Murder She Writes

Are you a gamer or a quitter? Or maybe you’re a bench warmer. Part of the team but not really in the game. More an observer who wants to play, but, well doesn’t have the stuff or isn’t willing to work for it. When the odds are stacked against you, do you rally and charge or know a loss when you see one and regroup to fight another day?

At what lengths are you willing to go to achieve a goal? What do you do to prepare? When do you say enough is enough? When do you throw in the towel and realize your dream is just that? A dream, never to become a reality.

I can thank a very dear friend of mine for this blog topic today. She asked me to look at her pages she is getting ready to send off to a major contest. I was most happy to take a look. Not only would I do just about anything for this woman, but she has always come through for me, so how could I say no? I couldn’t and I wouldn’t. So I read her story. Her writing is sound, really tight. Her plot is good. Her secondary characters? Awesome! But, to me her heroine was not likeable and the hero? Well, he came across a wee bit too wishy-washy. I pointed this out along with ways I thought she could strengthen them.

I know she found my comments daunting. She emailed me, and while I don’t recall exactly what she said, it was along the gist of, “I don’t have it in me to write emotional characters.”

I wrote back all of the standard, you can do it, you are good. And while that might sound like I didn’t mean what I said, that isn’t true. My friend can write. She is good. She has a voice. I’d tell her if she lacked talent, but luckily for us both, she doesn’t lack ,she just needs to work some more. So after all of the pumping up, I gave it to her straight. I said, “Listen, my editor told me my book that I poured my heart and soul into sucked the big one. She didn’t want to finish reading it! She asked me for permission not to for crying out loud!!! I was literally puking my guts up with nervousness. Only to find out it really did suck. But, I went back to work and dug deeper. It’s what we do.

Now. Dig deeper.”

I realized as I wrote those words to her that it was the truth. We must dig deeper. As writers it’s what we do.
Hell, I remember not so long ago I couldn’t even get a B agent to ask for a damn partial! So, I dug deeper.
Each day when I sit down to write, I have to dig deeper then I did the last time I sat down. It’s how we grow, it’s how we get better. It’s part of the process. Look at guys like Brett Farve, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Marvin Harris and Emmitt Smith. Those guys practice before their team shows up, and long after they leave for the day. They don’t stop. They get better and hone. They understand to succeed you have to work at it constantly.

And so it is with writing. And so it is with life in general. If you have a goal, a dream, a desire, how far are you willing to go, to get it?
And while we’re asking questions, I’d love to hear success stories. Writing or life successes. Share.

I’ve been thinking about pacing a lot lately. It started when I began revisions on TEMPTING EVIL. My editor liked the book, but felt the pacing in the first 100 pages was off–too slow, too much set-up. She had other comments and suggestions throughout, but the only MAJOR change was in the beginning.

The thing is, you change the beginning and everything else changes. The last 350 pages could have been perfect, but by changing the beginning, most of the rest of the book had to completely go or be extensively rewritten.

One editor once told me that there were two things she couldn’t fix in a manuscript and would grant an automatic pass: pacing and character. If the story was paced wrong–too fast, too slow, too many unnecessary scenes, etc–or if she couldn’t connect with the characters to care enough that they overcome the obstacles they face, then “No thanks, it’s not right for us.” My pacing has never been off much. (Except I rush the endings, and in revisions inevitably have to fill them out and give them more depth.) But now I was faced with a major problem, and one I didn’t know if I could fix.

Last week, Tess Gerritsen addressed action in a fabulous post written as a reader–Action Is Boring. In it, she comments about a book she read on a plane, one action scene after another, and how bored she was by the story. She summarized: “Yet it lacked tension. It was all action, and no suspense.”

Some people equate fast-paced with action, one scene after another of something big happening. Yet Tess hit it on the nose: action isn’t suspense. Action is plot. Suspense comes from character. Characters drive the story, and if you don’t first care about the characters, you don’t really care if they make it out alive after the car chase. The car chase becomes interesting when there is something big at stake–like your heroine, the gal you really care about and are rooting for, is trapped in the trunk of a car being chased in steep mountainous terrain. But if the gal in the back is just another person, who cares if she goes off the cliff or gets winged by a flying bullet?

Pacing is more than action. It’s the words you choose, the scenes you show, the characters and the stakes.

Yesterday at Fog City Divas I talked about HEROES, one of my favorite shows, and what was wrong with it this season. It was pacing. Too slow at the beginning–great at character, but not enough answers to questions. (ASIDE: Robert McKee in STORY says that readers are curious, but it’s give and take. You need to open with questions they want answers to. Answer some of the questions, then introduce more. In the beginning of HEROES there were too many questions and not enough answers. Compare it to the first season and you’ll see exactly what I mean.)

Then after the episode called FOUR MONTHS AGO (which was great and gave you all the answers you wanted, but it also stuck out like a sore thumb), the pacing sped up at light-speed at the expense of the characters.

So I was faced with a similar conundrum with the revisions to TEMPTING EVIL. The beginning was all set-up–important things, I felt, that the reader needed to know. And while it built tension–the reader has more information than the main characters–there were no real high stakes.

I solved this problem by starting the story in a different place with a completely different scene. Once that first chapter was finished, I knew it was by far the best place to start the story. Instantly, the stakes were in place. I could then use a lot of the set-up (heavily re-written and tightened) to increase the tension. It took me days to get those first fifty pages working together fluidly. Once that was done, I ran with the story. (Until something completely different happened at the midpoint of the story, something I didn’t expect, and I had to rewrite the ending . . . but I digress.)

Because of this pacing issue, I thought for a long time about where to start SUDDEN DEATH (the new title for book three in the prison break trilogy.) I have a lot of set-up in this story, but decided to handle it differently. The prologue is both a flashback (nightmare) for the innocent escaped convict, then sets up his reasons for going back to the lions den to prove his innocence. Because, frankly, if I was innocent of murder and had escaped prison, I don’t know that I’d risk my life to prove my innocence after fifteen years. Tom needed a strong, compelling reason for doing it. He has two: he doesn’t want his only daughter to think of him as a killer; and he knows someone got away with murder. Justice is driving him. He had been a cop.

All that I knew and liked and had written ages ago. But where to start the story? When should Tom come to town? What’s the heroine (his daughter) doing? How can I avoid all set-up and no tension?

So he’s on-page in chapter one. Start at the beginning. The heroine has no reason to try to prove her dad is innocent until she is forced to face him. Why drag that out? Though initially I didn’t see it happening until chapter three or four, I couldn’t SEE what was supposed to happen in chapters one and two. So I started with the scene that sets everything in motion: when Tom sees Claire for the first time after spending fifteen years in prison.

What pacing problems do you see with books? Television? Movies? What do you love . . . and hate . . . about fast-paced novels? What movie are you looking forward to this Christmas season and why?

And, last but definitely not least, a big SHOUT OUT to my pal, award-winning mystery writer Lori Armstrong for her new book deal. You just have to check out the video her pals at First Offenders created to celebrate the news. Congratulations Lori!!

Some of you who read this blog have heard a few of the adventures I’ve had with Alba, my trusty little Pathfinder. I’ve literally traveled around the U.S. more times than I can count in that white truck, and throughout those thousands of miles, she held up better than any grand dame Cadillac on the market. But she had been telling me for some time, “Enough is enough. I want to retire!” This time I listened. With a heavy heart and a lifetime of memories, I finally put Alba out to pasture. Below is a picture of the old girl, as well as a picture of the accumulated notches on her battle belt.

In case you’re wondering, here’s the new pup in my life….

Yep, I got another Pathfinder, but haven’t given her/him a name yet. It has to earn its stripes, show me a bit of personality before getting a name. I sort of feel sorry for the thing actually. There it was, sitting in the car lot, minding its own business and enjoying a shiny, peaceful existence. Then I come along and, well, all I can say is . . . tsk, tsk, that poor baby. Highway, here we come. Again. Argg . . .

Being on the road can be a serious pain in the butt. To most folks, driving (or flying) all over the country sounds like a high-time. The truth of the matter is…it’s exhausting. Be it bookstores, writers’ conferences, high school presentations, or regular business issues, I find myself on the road nearly half the year. That means I usually wind up in so many different hotels in a week that I have to keep the key sleeve in my pocket at all times so I can remember what room number I’m in on any particular night. I live in constant dread that one evening I’ll head up to room 201 (when I should be in 102) and start to slip my key into the lock when some 400 pound trucker dressed only in jockey shorts opens the door because he thinks his pizza has arrived.

Probably the most expensive, but productive, venue in marketing is traveling, especially given the price of fuel today. That said, I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learned over all those miles that might give you a bigger bang for your buck should you decide to take to the open road.

Whether you’re limited to a one state, tri-state area, geographical region, like the northeast, or the entire country, there are five basic elements to keep in mind for cost-effective traveling, in my opinion.

For the sake of this post, let’s say your plans are to hit every bookstore, drugstore, and grocery store that carries your books in a tri-state area….this would be my strategy:

1. Map out your course before you hit the road. Know who you’re going to see and where they’re located so you don’t find yourself driving around in circles or worse, backtracking to get to a location you should have made your second stop instead of your tenth.

2. Check the price of fuel on line in the states you will be traveling through and plan to top off your tank (even if it’s ¾ full) as many times as you can in the cheapest state.

3. Pack snack food from home and bring bottled water. I keep trail mix and snack crackers with me all the time.

4. Bring a flashlight, small pillow and blanket, and an extra quart of ‘just in case’ oil for your car. You can get the oil cheaper at your local store than you can in truck stops. The pillow and blanket are for emergency stops, like when you find yourself driving for hours with no hotel in sight.

5. If you have to stay in hotels, ask if they have membership programs. The points accumulated in hotel membership programs really do pay off. I just came back from a four day run in Los Angeles and my total hotel bill for four nights was $32.80!

So there ya go. A few lessons learned in Alba….may she rest in peace.

Last week, Amazon announced they were releasing the “iPod of reading,” the Kindle.

With a price tag of $399, the Kindle is not cheap, but it promises to revolutionize the future of books. Now, we’ve been hearing about this for years. Not the Kindle itself, but the “wave of the future.” E-book publishers have been spinning the story that print books were on the way out, and e-books were taking over. That, as we all know, never happened. (Yeah, this is the controversial part. I know, I know, it’s mild. Shameless on my part, but hey. Controversy sells.) Sure, some people have jumped on the e-book bandwagon, and there are those who bought the various e-readers, but when is the last time you sat next to someone on the airplane reading a book with an e-reader? Answer for me? Never. And I’ve been on plenty of airplanes. In short, they haven’t caught on with the reading public. Can the Kindle change that?

Wireless Internet can be spotty, and the Kindle is not relying on that. It will work more like iPod and the iTunes store, according to the article in AppleInsider.

Key to the integration is the device’s built-in, pervasive Internet access and a special section of Amazon’s online store dedicated to digital publications. Instead of using short-range Wi-Fi, the Kindle taps into Sprint’s much larger 3G cellular network and uses this primarily to load its content on to the device: although it has an SD card slot and a USB cable, Amazon expects most users to download their reading material online, regardless of where they may be.

From the Amazon Web site, here are the Kindle features:

* Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper.
* Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing.
* Wireless connectivity enables you to shop the Kindle Store directly from your Kindle—whether you’re in the back of a taxi, at the airport, or in bed.
* Buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute.
* More than 88,000 books available, including 100 of 112 current New York Times® Best Sellers.
* New York Times® Best Sellers and all New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise.
* Free book samples. Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.
* Top U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post; top magazines including TIME, Atlantic Monthly, and Forbes—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
* Top international newspapers from France, Germany, and Ireland; Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, and The Irish Times—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
* More than 250 top blogs from the worlds of business, technology, sports, entertainment, and politics, including BoingBoing, Slashdot, TechCrunch, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, The Onion, Michelle Malkin, and The Huffington Post—all updated wirelessly throughout the day.
* Lighter and thinner than a typical paperback; weighs only 10.3 ounces.
* Holds over 200 titles.
* Long battery life. Leave wireless on and recharge approximately every other day. Turn wireless off and read for a week or more before recharging. Fully recharges in 2 hours.
* Unlike WiFi, Kindle utilizes the same high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phones—so you never have to locate a hotspot.
* No monthly wireless bills, service plans, or commitments—we take care of the wireless delivery so you can simply click, buy, and read.
* Includes free wireless access to the planet’s most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia—Wikipedia.org.
* Email your Word documents and pictures (.JPG, .GIF, .BMP, .PNG) to Kindle for easy on-the-go viewing.

A problem I see here, of course, is that there are many books that are not currently available for the Kindle. But that could change, and it could change fast, should it catch on. The question is, will it? I think the demographic for this type of product is decidedly different from the demographic that buys books. I also believe that buying music online and then listening to it is decidedly different from reading a book online. You still use your ears, just like you did back when you had the old phonograph out, or the CD player, for those of you who don’t remember records. And yes, you use your eyes whether or not you are reading a book via a print copy or an e-copy, but part of the pleasure of reading, at least for me, is the smell of the paper, the weight of the book. I like to stop and re-read the inside flap copy, or the cover copy. I like to go back to the bio page, and see what the author looks like. Is this available in the Kindle? I don’t know. I’d be happy to test drive one, should they want to send it to me, but I’m not shelling out $400 bucks right now, because the kids want Christmas presents, and it’s not available anyway. The Amazon Web site says it is currently “sold out.”

Is this going to be like the iPhone? Lots of controversy, lots of costs, and then only a few people who have them. (Disclaimer: I don’t have one of THOSE either, so don’t take me too seriously. My friend Jenni has one, and loves it. She can even read email on it. My phone says it can do that, but I’m afraid of what my BILL will say if I try it.)

Anyway, back to the Kindle. The Christian Science Monitor says:

It doesn’t look like much. In fact, Amazon’s new e-book reader, the Kindle, looks downright industrially ugly, a beige flashback to the clunky ’80s. A glance tells you that this product was not designed by anybody working for Steve Jobs. Many critics have seized on the Kindle’s lack of eye appeal as one reason to forecast its failure.

But to add a new twist to an old saying, you can’t judge an e-book by its cover.

The Kindle may not look perfect, or be perfect, but it’s the best e-book reader yet to appear on the market. And like the iPod, it could be the tipping point in a whole new way to access a popular medium – in this case, books.

What do I find alluring about the Kindle?

*I like the idea that there is NO monthly fee. Your wireless charges are included. You only pay for what you download, which is really not that different from paying ONLY for the book you are buying.

*I like the idea of not having to drive somewhere if I find myself suddenly bookless. Yes, that’s a word. I decided.

*I love gadgets. I have teenage children who can help me figure out said gadgets.

*I always wanted to be involved in the “wave of the future…”

So, how about you? What are your thoughts about the Kindle? IS this the revolutionary product the e-book industry has been waiting for?

Let’s talk about what constitutes EASY.

I read a novella the other day where the heroine drove me crazy by thinking OVER AND OVER about how she never has sex this fast. How she always is in a relationship for awhile before she progresses to the next level. How she can’t believe it’s going to happen so fast. Really, she’s never this easy. She takes things slow…

I totally checked out. Who exactly was the heroine trying to convince? And why?

This was all internal thought, or exposition. I stopped caring as soon as she started the Internal Justification for Sex. Or IJS.

I know all about IJS. I’ve used the same justification in my own writing. I get so worried that readers might be turned off by the how quickly my heroine is progressing toward a sexual relationship that I suddenly start justifying it.

So. Not. Sexy!

Thankfully, I’m a fast reader and skimmed the rest of that story. I really didn’t care if the heroine ever had sex and barely remember anything past the point where she fretted eternally about Not Being Easy.

Then I read another novella in the same anthology and whoa! It was HOT. The heroine ends up engaged in some very sexy foreplay with a hot guy when she says in dialogue something like, “I never have sex with a guy after only knowing him twenty minutes.”

The guy, without looking at his watch told her something like, “It’s been at least forty five minutes.”

She totally agrees that’s plenty of time. I’m so into the story that I’m swept along with her. Not once did I think she was easy or a slut. I understood that this was a short novella, and a paranormal, so rules were going to be different. Besides, it was so well set up, I wasn’t thinking about the heroine’s moral compass, I was just turning pages as quickly as the tension built. No time to think, just read.

I loved this novella! There was a plot that helped reveal the emotional conflicts that made me care. I wanted this heroine to get the love she deserved. It all worked.

Not once was I pulled out of the story by IJS. Internal Justification for Sex is really making excuses. If the heroine has to make excuses for what she’s doing, then maybe she is easy. Maybe she is a slut. Or maybe she’s too stupid for me to trust her decisions regarding sex or anything else.

To sum up—the heroine that did the Internal Justification for Sex sucked all the sexual tension right out of the story, and she made me wonder if she was too stupid to be a heroine at all.

The heroine who acknowledged the swift sex with humor in dialogue had me with her every step of the way. She deserved the hot sexy guy she got in the end.

So am I too easy? What do you all think?

This is going to be a quickie blog post. It’s early Friday morning and I have just woke up from a lovely tryptophan induced coma. The holiday was nice. It was mello. I had a nice time with the family and relatives I don’t’ see all that often. I had the chance to have a really nice long chat with my cousin-in-law’s 19 year-old daughter who is growing up to be quite the young lady. She’s had a few hiccoughs along the way, and will no doubt have a few more, as all of us do, but she impressed me with what she learned from her mistakes and how she plans on not repeating them. She also learned she deserves to set the bar really high when it comes to relationships. She understands now she does not need a man to validate her. She doesn’t need a man to make her feel good about herself. She understands at the tender age of 19 that that is her job. Ah, would that more adults figured this out.

I really like this kid. She has moxy. And she’s smart. She makes me smile and I’m going to use her background and the woman she is evolving into for a future story. And she will most definitely have a very happily ever after.

So, while yesterday was a holiday, I found myself really studying the family and the personalities and thinking of everyone’ background stories. It makes for some very interesting characters.

How about you? Did you encounter any interesting characters yesterday?

It’s Thanksgiving and all through cyberspace you’re reading posts about Thanksgiving–the history, what people are thankful for, most better written than I can do while thinking of all the cooking I need to do today! I think Natalie on Tuesday wrote a great Thanksgiving blog, so scroll down and check it out.

I was going to blog about writing, specifically book three in the prison break series which I started this week and why I think taking long breaks between books can be bad for the muse. But I’ll save that for next week.

Today, because I know there are a gazillion other people out there thinking about the stuffing they need to make and the apples they need to slice for pie (I can’t bake worth a darn, except apple pie), I thought I’d steer you to some blogs to read while you’re waiting for the onions to turn glassy, or for that hour of reprieve once you get the turkey in the oven and can pop open the champagne and fix yourself a mimosa . . .

For those who like writing exercises, check out Toni McGee Causey’s blog at Murderati on Character and Shame.

Another exercise about changing the font you write in to weed out extraneous words over at Alison Kent.

On my own site, I talk about what’s up next now that I finished revisions of TEMPTING EVIL last weekend.

(As an aside–I need a new title for DYING BREATH. Long story. I have some ideas, but if anyone has additional ideas, feel free to post them!)

Earlier this month, Kristin Nelson dissected the back-cover copy of THE PREY. Thanks Kristin! I love her blog. (And thanks to Edie for letting me know . . . Edie has a wonderful Thanks For post at Magical Musings today.)

Tess Gerritsen celebrates 20 years in the business and shares lessons learned.

And finally, a terrific blog over at PJ Parrish’s site where they post an article by Ian Fleming on writing.

I’m sure I’ve missed some great blogs this week. Anyone have something to share? Post it here! Or just wish us a Happy Thanksgiving and safe holiday weekend, and we’ll wish it right back at you. Don’t forget our contest! Post a comment to enter.

Yep, I know it’s the day before Thanksgiving, and I probably should be posting something that involves turkey recipes (from moi? Nah…) or something poignant and insightful regarding the holiday. But I figured that’s what folks might expect, so I decided to veer left and post something a little different.

My new book, Water Witch, is due to come out at the end of July 2008. As of now, I haven’t seen the cover art, although the cover copy has been sent to me for approval. Seeing what they decided to use for the cover of a new book is always an exciting (and anxious) time for me. They used the suggestions I gave them for the first three books, but went a bit over the top for my fourth, in my opinion. Fortunately, though, most of the responses I’ve received about that fourth cover have been positive. Heaven only knows what kind of cover my publisher will decide on for this new one. The jury’s still out on it, and I’m biting my nails in anticipation.

One thing I do have some control over, though, is the author picture they normally stick on the back of the book. They’ve used the same picture of me for the last four books, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it needs to be changed. Why? Because I’m tired of seeing the same old picture! Plus, I don’t think it’s fair to set your readers up for serious disappointment. The aging process is a given, so why show them a face from a four-year-old photo, then have them show up at a signing and think, “Wait a minute . . .who’s that old broad signing Deborah’s books?!”

Now if I looked like Sandra Brown, I might be singing a different tune here. I’ve seen Sandra’s book photos from ten years ago, and she looks as gorgeous in her current ones as she did back then. Even better, what you see in her pictures (back then and now) is what you see in person. The woman is absolutely gorgeous. Sadly, I was not blessed with such aging grace. Instead, I find myself collecting that ‘rode hard, put up wet’ look that does NOT fare well in photographs or in person. Regardless, I still think it’s time for a change. But what change? Looking ‘rode hard and put up wet’ is one thing, but do I offer that look via the chin-on-the-fist pose? What about the peeking-around-a-door-corner pose? You know, the ones where you only really see half of the author’s face? What about the dark, serious and sultry, don’t-mess-with-this-woman look? Nah. The problem with that one is that dark with me is a given, so is serious. When I attempt sultry, however, I just wind up looking tired with shit sagging all over the place. Not a good thing.

I was about to give up and have them stick a photo of my dog or something on the back of the book, when I came across a picture I thought might work. A couple of weeks ago I was traipsing through Louis I Cemetery in New Orleans with a good friend who loves taking pictures. He snapped a few of me while I was goofing off amongst the tombstones, and I’m considering using one of them for the new book. To me, the photo kind of says, “Here’s Deborah, simple, weird, but real.” Whadda ya think? Does it work?

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